


when I look over my shoulder, there's a cat looking over

by ffslynch



Series: Kenma Ship Week 2020 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Modern Magic, Shapeshifter Bokuto Koutarou, Shapeshifter Kuroo Tetsurou, Supernatural - Freeform, Witch Akaashi Keiji, Witch Kozume Kenma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25538872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ffslynch/pseuds/ffslynch
Summary: "The witch tiredly gets up and tells the cat an empty threat of leaving him without food for the day before getting up to go to the bathroom. Kuroo hisses and it sounded like laughter. Kenma was getting very close to hating him. "Kenma Ship Week 2020 day 1 - Supernatural/Modern Magic
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Kenma Ship Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896289
Comments: 18
Kudos: 139
Collections: Kenma Ship Week 2020





	when I look over my shoulder, there's a cat looking over

Kenma shivers against the cold wind as he walks back home. It’s well past five in the afternoon and the sky over the buildings is turning into different shades of pink, much like his own nose, but he is too tired to admire and care. Herbology classes in winter are a drag, his magic feels coagulated and stuck inside his veins as he tries his best to connect with the half-asleep plants. Hell, he was half asleep for almost all the class, save from the brief moment when Akaashi surprised him with hot chocolate. 

Friendship was not something that came easy to Kenma. Being extremely shy and an overall introvert, he had never cared to entertain his colleagues from the magic academy. Sure, it could be lonely sometimes, especially when the time to choose their secondary school, and therefore which type of magic they would specialize in, rolled around. Most kids were already talking to each other and helping one another to choose their specialities and schools, making plans to join clubs together or summer camps, to begin a few steps ahead on their new school. Kenma didn’t really need to talk to anyone to help him choose, and the idea of spending his summer anywhere outside his bedroom sounded insane to him, but still... Sometimes, as he watched his colleagues sit near each other during breaks, or in a tight circle during conjuration classes, knees touching and eyes glinting at each other, he wondered if he was missing something.

Kenma chose to be a potion maker for several reasons. First and foremost, it was a second nature thing. His mother was a potion maker, he had grown seeing her prance around a cauldron on her shop and listening to her talk with and about different clients, their needs and requests. She had even taught him one or two recipes that he had mastered on his own by the time he was twelve and was very proud of it, thank you very much. Secondly, though his mother did enjoy the prancing and singing and sometimes dancing around her cauldron under the moonlight, being a potion master was one of those professions where you didn’t really have to move around a lot, besides doing some very specific stirring here and there. Some potions took over 15 hours to get ready, taking a lot of steaming and boiling time. Kenma could simply do his thing and then play video games until the next stirring time came around, it was almost effortless. And finally, besides taking orders (something that - if he was successful enough to have his own shop, he could just hire someone to do that for him), potion-making required barely any interaction at all. He could do his thing, get his money and not deal with other people. 

The beginning of his first year in the magic academy was as lonely as his primary school years, and it didn’t bother Kenma a whole lot until almost all of his classes started to require pair work. 

“Accountability is essential for potion-making.” his teacher tells the class “You must know your clients and their needs, you must be able to see through them so you can better decide which ingredients to put on your potion, how to make, which dose they should use, the form of usage. Clients can be clueless, they won’t always know for real what they need and as a potion maker that is your responsibility. Use this time to learn how to better read people, and build connections. You’ll thank me later.” 

Kenma doubts it and feels exhausted from the prospect of having to interact with all these different people on a deeper level. He knows the basics of reading people and analysing issues, from both his mum but also hours of video game and the analysis of strategy and character build that comes with it. He does feel better when he gets paired with Akaashi in herbology, tho. Herbology is surprisingly hard and at the very beginning, almost all plants look the same to Kenma when dehydrated. But Akaashi is set to be a green witch, plants are his second soul and it comes easily for him. He helps Kenma with his struggles and shares some of his own regarding other classes they have in common (they pretty much pair up together at every chance they get). Akaashi is serene and peaceful, he’s great at reading Kenma and calming his anxieties signs even when Kenma hadn’t even noticed he was showing them. But he as also an unperfect anxious mess himself. He and Kenma quickly fall into the routine of drinking hot chocolate and pulling all-nighters together on their first year, a tradition they keep until nowadays, in the middle of their second one. 

When Kenma finally gets home his toes are asleep, and he can barely feel his face, even though he was wearing his thickest winter scarf. Not for the first time, he wondered when would magic progress enough for them to have self-heating clothes. He abandons his shoes and winter coat at the door and drags himself to the kotatsu on his living room, burying his legs and a good part of his torso under it. He eyes the clock and tells himself the empty promise that he’ll play on his PSP for only one hour and then do dinner and his homework. 

Kenma is in the middle of a game when his doorbell rings. Kenma looks up confused, as he is not expecting anyone and has no idea who it could be. The doorbell rang again. And then a third time immediately. He looks down to his game frustrated by the interrupted match, but gets up nonetheless, trying to shield his body from the cold. Immediate regret hits him as he makes his way to the door, hugging his own body. The doorbell rings a fourth time, and he can hear someone scolding on the other side. Kenma opens the door and his confusion triplicates. Because at the other side of the door is Akaashi, with an owl perching on his right shoulder and carrying a cat on his arms. Kenma blinks, and then one more time.

“Good night, Kenma. Sorry to disturb you so late at night” Akaashi is using his polite voice, the one he uses when is unsure on how the person he’s talking to will receive the information he is about to give. It does a great job in fooling other people, but Kenma can hear the anxiety sleeping through the cracks.

“It’s ok...I was just playing some games.” His eyes keep jumping from Akaashi to the owl to the cat to Akaashi again “Uh...can I help?” Akaashi sighs and nods

“Bokuto-san, please, if you could…” At his words, the owl on his shoulder chirped and took a short flight before coming back to Kenma’s front step. Expect instead of landing back on Akaashi’s shoulder, the owl stopped mid-flight and popped back on the open hallway, in the form of a man. 

“Oh!” Kenma thought “A shapeshifter. Of course” The Grand Academy of Shadow and Shapes, where shapeshifters, demonologist and necromancers studied, was on the other side of the town from their academy. Because of that, Kenma had little to no contact with their students, but looking at the newly turned man, Kenma realized that he knew him. He had seen pictures of him hanging around Akaashi’s apartment, and he had picked up the green witch at the end of their classes a few times in the past years. Kenma had always abstained from introducing himself, however. Although Akaashi seemed to be as comfortable and safe as one could be around him, Kenma had to admit that his loud voice and dramatic demeanour scared him. Also, he had the hugest yellow golden eyes Kenma had ever seen, which upon further inspection made complete sense with his alternative form. Kenma had heard about the uncanny similarity between the human form and the animal form of some shapeshifters, but it was really quite undeniable that the grey and white, fluffy owl that was perched on Akaashi’s shoulders a few minutes ago was the same men standing in front of him, wearing a bright smile.

“Hey there, Kozume!” Bokuto boasts and Kenma shivers. He is so loud and god, his eyes are huge. “I’m Bokuto, how you doing?!

“Just Kenma is fine” He replies nervously “I’m doing ok, how about you?”

“Oh, I’m great!” He beams loudly and Akaashi coughs a bit, side-eyeing him and the cat. Bokuto’s eyes grow larger, as he just remembered something “Oh, right. Well, I’m doing fine but the cat not so much. You see, this ugly piece of fur here” He gestures towards the cat on Akaashi’s arm and the animal hisses at him, exposing his tiny fangs “Is actually my best friend!” Kenma looks at the cat and at Bokuto back again, trying to understand the point.

“Ok…”

“So...Can you help us??” Bokuto asks a bit too loudly once again, and Kenma just gets more confused before Akaashi sighs 

“I think you have to explain it a bit more, Bokuto-san”

“Oh, ok! See, he's a shapeshifter! Like me!” He points to his chest proudly “Tho he is not as good and skilled as I am, clearly” He says laughing and Kenma is pretty surprised with the strength on Akaashi’s arms, cause that cat looks like its doing its best to jump and skin Bokuto alive. “See, we had a conjoined class with the guys from the spell casting academy today, crazy guys let me tell you, they’re just out there shooting words and stuff like, how crazy is that?” Not crazy at all, its magic, anyone can do it. Kenma thinks but doesn’t say anything. Akaashi coughs a little again and that seems to bring Bokuto back into focus “Anyway, one of their students, Lev, great guy really, very funny but super clumsy tho, tried to prank my friend over there. I guess he was trying to freeze him in one spot, so he could carry him, which Kuroo would never let it happen in a million years, but instead of like, freezing his limbs, so he couldn’t move, Lev froze the magic around him? Or inside him? Or something like that, so now Kuroo is just like...stuck”

“Right...And Kuroo is..."

“My best friend!! Kuroo! With the whiskers and tail and stuff” Bokuto gestures wildly towards the cat, or apparently, the student stuck in cat form, and Kenma kinda wants to laugh cause he doesn’t think he has ever seen an angriest cat on his life. Kuroo’s tail has double the width of it from puffing it up and his nails are clearly out and ruining Akaashi’s sleeves.

Kuroo, the black cat. How fitting.

“Of course. Nice to meet you, Kuroo” Kenma tells the cat, anxiously but trying to be polite. The animal seems surprised at first but nods, acknowledging him. “I’m sorry, I don’t see how I could possibly help? I know nothing about shapeshifting.” he looks up to Akaashi, apologizing.

“You do know about unclogging magical particles” Akaashi answers “You’re better at it than me when it comes to controlling it and making sure its moving smoother and into one direction. I’ve seen when we were learning how to relive plants and redirect energy when cleaning the room for a potion” His colleague tells him. “From what I gathered that’s probably what happened. The spellcaster must have frozen the magical energy inside Kuroo-san, instead of his actual physical body. So now, because the magic is stuck, he is unable to come back to his human form. I’m so sorry to bother you, and I know it’s a lot to ask, please do feel free to say no if you think it's too much, but could you please try to help him?”

Kenma looks at him a bit stunned. Sure, the logistics of it and Akaashi’s theory all make sense, but making magic flow in plants and sensing someone’s energy to redirect when making potions is a completely different thing than unclogging the magic of another actual witch. Kenma is about to say no, sorry, too much, but he looks at Kuroo again. If Akaashi looks frantic, it has nothing on this cat. It’s looking at Kenma like he is his last hope. Kenma didn’t think cats could look like they are in the edge of a mental break until he looked at this one. He sighs, internally wishing he won’t regret this.

“I guess I can try” There’s an audible sigh of relief from all humans involved (and maybe the cats as well). 

“Thank you so much, Kenma, I’ll owe you big time”

“It’s fine, you can pay me in hot chocolate and pastries,” Kenma tells him jokingly, but Akaashi is already kinda bowing and promising he will. The cat is placed on the ground and Kenma and the animal establish eye contact before the witch opens the door a bit more, so he can go in, which he does unceremoniously. Like a cat. Akaashi and Bokuto tell him goodnight (too loudly for Kenma’s taste) and leave, now both in human form. Kenma wonders how that friendship came to happen before closing the door and turning around. And finds himself completely alone, not a cat on sight whatsoever. 

“Kuroo?” He calls out nervously. He stumbles around the apartment for a while, looking on kitchen counters and behind furniture, confused as to where the shapeshifter might be. He calls out a few more times before finally hearing a small ‘meow’ coming from...under the kotatsu. Of course. 

Kenma semi crawled underneath it, catching a glimpse of two bright eyes staring back at him. Fair enough, it was absurdly cold, and he did have a much smaller body. Plus, if Akaashi’s theory was correct, his energy must be stuck which would make it much harder for warmth to travel through his body. 

“Kuroo, I know it’s cold but this set up is not really going to work if you want me to help you out.” He tells him, but the cat stays fixed, unmoving in the warmth of the blankets. “Kuroo…” He begins one more time before his own stomach growls. He looks up to the clock and its almost nine already. Kenma thinks for a bit before turning “What if I get something warm for us both to eat. Then we can go and work on it at my table, I can do some research and get the feel of your energy and how stuck it is. But for that I really need you to get out of there” Kuroo looked back at him before stretching and yawning. Kenma watches as the cat walks past him and make his way towards the kitchen. He stops near the door and looks back at the witch, his tail slapping impatiently on the air. Kenma rolls his eyes and follows him. He doesn’t even know what he should give Kuroo to eat, he certainly doesn’t have any cat food, and he doubts corn chips will do the cat any good, but they’ll figure out something. Hopefully. 

It takes a while, but finally, Kenma is able to find something that seems to please the shapeshifter, some grilled mackerel his mother had left him on the past weekend, complaining he didn’t eat enough real food. Annoyingly so, Kuroo seems to agree with her as he meows furiously at Kenma until the witch has served himself some extra vegetables on top of the microwaved ramen he was planning on having for dinner. After an hour or so, they find themselves back at the kotatsu, in a sort of staring contest. Kenma chews on his bottom lip nervously before asking permission to feel the surrounding energy, to which Kuroo simply flicked his ears but Kenma took it as an affirmative. He closes his eyes and tries to focus on the creature in front of him, raising his hands and hovering them around the small body and...oh.

Oh, no. 

This is wrong. Very, very wrong. Magic is pure energy, flowing both inside and outside someone at the same time. It’s moving and dynamic, like a piece of paper being blown around by the wind. It’s flexible and it gives a tingly feeling when you’re manipulating it, like cold water running in between your fingers. He never felt the energy of a shapeshifter before, but he is pretty sure he is supposed to feel more personal energy than physical, to be able to get a grasp on who Kuroo is and how his magic feels, instead of just the static magic that is put in use to maintain his animal form. But this is...This is the opposite of that. Is like Kuroo is stuck inside a hard, plastic box. He is completely stuck in cat form and the magic is so locked in place Kenma can barely feel the other witch own, original magical energy. It’s pure...cat. And anger. 

When he opens his eyes again, Kuroo is staring right into him. Kenma feels more exposed than he would like. 

“Ok...It’s pretty bad” Kuroo seems to flinch, but Kenma sees no point in avoiding the truth. He gets up and grabs a few books from his shelf, before sitting down again. He gives a brief explanation to Kuroo about the results he got as he flips through the pages, seeing if there is any potion he could possibly use. He pauses after a few minutes, reading in silence. Kuroo is pacing anxiously on the top of the table, his tail flicking wildly. Kenma looks up a bit annoyed “Creating a hole on my table won’t make me find the solution faster” he tells the cat. Kuroo simply ruffs, his whiskers twitching in response. Although he does seem to have a gleam of amusement on his eyes. Kenma decides that that is a problem for another day and keeps looking into the book until he finds a potion that seems fitting. “Ok, I think I found it. It takes two days to brew, and I’ll have to go out to buy some ingredients tomorrow, but we can get started it tonight. I’ll also have to do some energy pulling with you in the meanwhile, cause this will only reverse your physical form, like if you were just another type of witch that got transformed into an animal, but it won’t work unless we can unclog your magical lines” He looks up to Kuroo to see if he understands, and it seems he does, so Kenma nods, satisfied.

The next half an hour by quickly, with him prepping his cauldron and throwing together some ingredients for the pre-brewing phase. He would have to get the rest of the ingredients necessary tomorrow after class. During the whole time, Kuroo is just walking around in between Kenma’s legs, occasionally jumping on a table nearby to watch closely what’s going on. He understands absolutely nothing, of course, but curiosity does seem to get the best of him. Kenma mutters a few magical words as he lights the fire on low and watches to see if things are mixing up alright. He covers the bowl and cleans his hands on his jeans before turning to the black cat watching him. 

“This is all we can do for tonight. I’ll have to get the rest of the ingredients tomorrow, after class. We’re usually done by lunchtime on fridays, so I’ll be back on the early afternoon” They stay in silence for a moment, which is when it finally dawns on Kenma that the whole situation means that Kuroo will probably be staying over for the next two days, at least. He shifts uncomfortably from the prospect of having a stranger, though stuck in a very non-human, silent form, on his house all day. Kenma looks at the clock, just so he can look literally anywhere that is not Kuroo, and awkwardly tells him he is going to get ready for bed, but he can feel free to get comfortable and sleep wherever he wants. When Kenma gets out of the bathroom he finds himself in the same situation as earlier, completely alone with no cat on sight. But it takes little time to find Kuroo, as he apparently has decided that Kenma's invitation meant he could sleep on the witches bed. Kenma huffs, slightly outraged. The audacity of this cat, he swears to god. “If you move or meow one time, I’ll kick you out and lock the door” Kenma threats, as he grabs his gaming console and gets under the covers. But he has no reason to worry. Even though cats are nocturnal creatures, the process of being stuck on a different body against his will must have exhausted him, cause Kuroo falls fast asleep at the bottom of the bed before Kenma and doesn’t move all night. Kenma passes out around 2am, as usual, and though he would rather die than to say it out loud, it was nice to have a ball of warmth near his legs through the night. 

Next morning comes sooner than Kenma would like, and it doesn’t make it better that he literally wakes up to a paw repeatedly hitting him on the head. He opens his eyes to a very furry face, much closer than he’d like. Kenma almost falls out of bed from the scare and makes sure to give Kuroo his best glares. The cat only meows at him, with a glim in his eyes, and Kenma could swear that it was laced with the same amusement he thought he saw last night. Although now, in the morning light, he can’t help but notice a few new things. Yesterday he was too tired to notice, but today, paying a bit more attention to the cat on his bed, he has to admit he looks a bit odd. Kenma has no idea on how he confused him with a regular cat the other night. He has no idea what Kuroo looks like as a human, but his cat form has an impressive longer, almost matted fur on top of his head, giving him a weird fringe that reminds Kenma of a rooster. 

The witch tiredly gets up and tells the cat an empty threat of leaving him without food for the day before getting up to go to the bathroom. Kuroo hisses and it sounded like laughter. Kenma was getting very close to hating him. 

After that, the morning flows easily. Kenma gets ready and then checks on the potion brewing stage. Everything looks good, so he makes his way to the kitchen, grabs a quick drink on the fridge, and leaves milk in a plate and pieces of chicken he salvaged from a microwaved meal for Kuroo. During all of this process, the cat is, much like last night, walking and making his way in between his legs. Kenma had heard before that pets tend to have no concept of personal space, but this seemed a bit ridiculous. it felt even more absurd that, if he was very honest, it didn’t bother Kenma at all. It felt almost natural. But that was foolish, so Kenma shakes that idea away and goes to put on his shoes and gets ready to leave. He promises to come back as soon as possible with the rest of the ingredients. The cat merely flicked his tail and watched as the boy disappeared behind the door. 

The rest of his morning passes in a blur. Who would imagine that having a human stuck in cat form back at home could be so distracting. If he was being honest, Kenma was also a bit...excited. He was dabbing in a magical situation he had never even heard before, nevertheless dealt with it alone. It was interesting to look up new potions, old researches and try it again and again, testing his own limits and theories. 

Kenma and Akaashi have no classes together on fridays, so he shoots him a quick text explaining everything on his way yo the store after class. Fortunately, he finds everything he needs, although some of it costs more than he would like. While looking for some golden crow feathers, Kenma looked at the tag and winced at the digits starring back at him. Kuroo better pay him back later on, or he swears to god. 

He ends up not taking long at all and by three he is back at home. Kenma unlocks the door and pokes his head in. No cat on sight. He walks in and, as he takes out his shoes and jacket, Kuroo comes running in crazily in his direction. His tail is puffed up and his eyes are the size of the moon. Kenma stops and stares at him, surprised. 

“What are you doing?” He asks, confused and annoying by the burst of energy, but Kuroo simply walks closer, making his way in between Kenma's legs as if to say hi, and quickly paddling off to the room where Kenma keep his caldron and the potion. He briefly stops and looks back at Kenma, as if to hurry him up. Kenma scoffs but follows him, muttering something along the lines of “Rooster head”. Kuroo must have heard him, but it simply hisses in a way that sounds like a laugh, like it has done before and without a shadow of a doubt will do it again.

The next few hours are spent with Kenma carefully dosing and prepping the potion. The colour is looking right, but the aroma is not there yet. The consistency of it is also a bit too thin for Kenma's liking. It should be a bit thicker. He manoeuvres the magical energy that comes from the brew, making sure it’s stable and light enough to not cause any damages (to the potion or to Kuroo when he drinks it). After almost three hours of such, he finally covers the pot and sighs, cleaning the light layer of sweat covering his forehead. He looked to the side and snorted. Although Kuroo had been energetic and jumping and walking in between Kenma's leg during the first stages of the second of brewing, after a while he had given up and was now peacefully asleep, curled around himself on top of a few books Kenma had abandoned weeks ago. Kenma didn’t want to admit, but he looked kinda cute like this. The witch shakes his head, trying to clear away from such silly thoughts. Kuroo is not cute. Cats are cute. And Kuroo is not a cat, he is just stuck in the shape of one, temporarily. Hopefully. (Certainly. Kenma thinks. He is doing a good job, the potion is looking good. He has no reason to doubt himself.). He is just tired. And Hungry. He should probably eat something and wake up Kuroo to make sure he eats as well. 

“Oi...Kuroo” He calls him softly. No answer “Kuroo” he calls again, this time venturing a finger to poke the cat on the side. To his surprise, the cat lazily turns, flopping on his back belly exposed. He blinks his eyes slowly to Kenma. Fuck, he is not helping the with the whole ‘not cute’ thing. Stupid cat. “Let’s eat,” he tells him simply, immediately standing up and leaving the room. Is he being weird? He feels like he is being weird. But is it even more weird to think a cat, that is actually a man that you have never seen before, is cute? He should just stop thinking. His brain is going into anxious overworked ways once again. Food. He should focus on food. 

Kenma scavenges his kitchen for something that cats can eat. He googles quickly on his phone ‘human foods that cat can eat’, hoping to find something that he has in there. He is able to cook some eggs and mash some bananas and put on a plate. Kuroo, that had enthusiastically followed him into the kitchen, sniffed it around a bit and, seemingly satisfied with it, began to eat. Kenma sighed in relief and turned around to grab a pack of chips for him to have for dinner. Just as he was opening the bag, a paw hit his hand, stopping him. Kenma looked back to the cat confused. Why was him...Why was Kuroo stopping him from eating? Kenma tried to open the bag again and hit by the paw one more time. Kuroo meowed furiously at him and now Kenma was just getting annoyed.

“Excuse me? Some of us are trying to have dinner” But Kuroo kept meowing and eventually hit the bag out of Kenma's hands, onto the floor. The cat jumped out of the table and started walking around the kitchen, stopping in front of the fridge and putting his paw on it, until Kenma opened it. As the witch did, Kuroo pried half of his body inside it, sniffing around until he finally hit one of the food Tupperware that Kenma's mum had left for him, and he had shown last night. “There’s no more fish in there. There're only vegetables, rice and edamame, you can’t eat any of that” Kenma explains, but Kuroo looks at like with a very frustrated expression ohs cat face. He hits the paw on the Tupperware again and then hits once more on Kenma's knee. Oh. He wants Kenma to eat the vegetables. The cat is a fucking health freak. Just Kenma's luck. The witch wants to fight back and eat his chips, but Kuroo looks like he can be very insistent if he wants and to tell the truth, Kenma is way too lazy to fight him. He gets up to microwave the plate, and the pleasure on Kuroo's face is undeniable.

“Stupid Cat,” Kenma thinks, exasperated “Comes into my house, asking for help, and has the nerve to pester me about my eating habits”. He can not even imagine how insufferable Kuroo must be in real life.

After dinner, he settles down on his bed to play some new game he’s been trying out for the past week. It’s not a bad game, and it’s definitely not easy, but Kenma is mostly playing around with it until something more interesting comes along. Kuroo settles down by his side, his tail lazily flicking around as he watched Kenma play. Eventually, he falls asleep, a ball of warmth right beside Kenma's leg, his head slightly touching his thigh. It's a feeling that comforts Kenma as he goes through the game, and when he decides its enough for the night, it lures him to sleep easier than usual. 

Saturday morning comes and Kenma wakes up earlier than usual. Because of Kuroo, obviously. Stupid rooster headed cat.

Kuroo meows until Kenma drags himself out of bed, meows again when Kenma considers skipping breakfast and one more time, just to annoy him. Kenma threatens to mess up the potion and ‘accidentally’ poison him, but Kuroo only gives him that hiss that sounds like a cackle. 

Kenma gives him the first dose of the potion, after checking that the liquid is ready and all properties are presenting as they should. Besides some uncomfortable sniffles and twitches, Kuroo doesn’t react much to it. After that, Kenma begins trying to unclog Kuroo's magic directly once more, as he did on the first night they met. It feels easier now, less hard to move, more smooth than still, more like water and less like hard plastic. This is good, Kenma thinks pleased.

He is also surprised. With the first dose and two days of Kenma manhandling the magic, he can finally begin to feel Kuroo's actual energy. And it's intense. The tip of Kenma's fingers are tingling, and he wants to envelop both of his wants in this velvety stream of ambition and kindness and determination. Kuroo's magic is strong-willed, wild and well-structured. Kenma feels himself swallowing it dry once again and his ears warm up as he realizes the amazement must be clear on his face. He puts his hands down and rubs them quickly on his pyjama pants, trying to get rid of the tingly feeling that the activity left on his skin. 

“Well, that’s about it for now. We gotta wait until after dinner to give you next dose, and then you should be good to go.” Kenma tells him and Kuroo nods, his ears twiching. The Witch lets his body fall back against the couch, more tired than he would like to admit. After a while, Kuroo meows and when Kenma looks he has his pawn over his controller. Kenma furrows his brows.

“You want to play the video game” Kuroo shakes his head and puts the paw over the controller again, before putting it on Kenma. “Oh... You want to watch me play? Is that not, like, boring?” He asks after Kuroo nods to his first question, but the cat merely plops himself on Kenma's lap, head high enough that he can see the screen but not interfere in any of Kenma's move. “Hmm... Have you ever played this game?” Kuroo shakes his head for the third time. Kenma decides then to try and entertain him, at least a little, so he can appease his own guilt of possibly being a bad host. He doesn’t want Kuroo to think he is boring after all. “Well, basically…” He begins as he turns the game on. For the rest of the afternoon, Kenma tells Kuroo all about the game, the plot, the characters, the gameplay, everything. He occasionally stops to check if Kuroo is bored, or to concentrate on the game. If it goes for too long, Kuroo hits him with paw and Kenma continues, tells him about other games he enjoyed, some he didn’t and why. The afternoon passes quickly and both magical creatures enjoy deeply the chilling activity. “This is nice” Kenma thinks, vowing to never say it out loud.

Much later, after the sun has been eaten by the night and both man and man-stuck-in-cat-form have had dinner, Kenma gives Kuroo the second dose of the potion and does his best to clear and unclog his magical energy once more. He makes absent comments about random subjects that Kuroo choses by looking or hitting things with his paw and tail. They go to bed and Kenma plays some more, but Kuroo, heavy from the potion, falls asleep quickly. A ball of warmth by Kenma's side. 

“This is nice,” He thinks. “I’m going to miss this” He allows himself to feel sad for it for a fleeting moment before embarrassment from such thoughts engulf him. Kenma falls asleep listening to Kuroo's low and steady breath, comforted by the warm company that will soon end.

The soft sunlight of sunday morning makes his way into Kenma's room. The witch twitches his nose, in that lazy phase where one is reluctant to be awake, but no longer belongs in the world of dreams any more. Slowly, he begins to feel more and more awake, for a variable of reasons. Firstly, the sun on his face, secondly, he actually had one of the best nights of sleep he ever had, and lastly, because there is a huge body of warmth right next to him. As in, a body of warmth larger than his own body. As in an actual, human body that is roughly the double size of Kenma. 

Kenma sits up straight and stares down at the stranger. There is a man on his bed. The jump scare takes all the sleep away from him as he looks down at the stranger until the panic settles and his brain finally catches up with him to make 2 very sensible observations: 

1) There are no cats in the room. 

2) The man has a very, very familiar mess of black hair on the top of his head. 

Kuroo! He is human again!

Kenma anxiously pokes him on the side.

“Kuroo?” He calls him, but the man barely even moves. “Kuroo” He calls him louder and pokes his ribs harder, but the only thing he gets is a groan. “Goddammit, you stupid rooster head,” he says annoyed and pushes Kuroo with the strength he has. It’s not much, but it’s enough to make the man lose balance and fall out of bed with a loud thump.

“Oi! What the actual fuck Kenma!” Kuroo muttered from the floor “Jesus, you feisty little goblin, how does someone that barely eats his greens can…” The stream of complaints is interrupted by Kuroo sitting up and locking eyes with Kenma, as the realization of what happened downs on him. “KENMA!”

Kenma winces but smirks a little at the surprise on the boy’s face

“Kenma, I’m human again! It worked! Your potion worked!”

“... Were you expecting it not to?”

“Of course I thought it would work Kenma, don’t be silly.” Kuroo scoffed as he got up and stretched “It’s just, you know, it's quite nerve-wracking to be stuck in a different body when you can’t change. Especially as a shapeshifter, this is supposed to be second nature. You said it yourself it was very bad” Kuroo pointed out before giving Kenma a bright smile. It was definitely human, but Kenma would be lying if he said there was nothing cat-like about it. “But I knew you could do it the first night we met. You were so cautious but so confident in your knowledge, I knew Akaashi had brought me to the right person. I had never seen a potion maker work so closely, it was so interesting. And your energy work was also pretty impressive for someone so young. You literally took a challenge and pulled it off. ” Kenma looks away embarrassed. He can feel his face warming up, and he wishes Kuroo would stop.

Kuroo seems to notice as he finally ends his speech one sentence followed by another bright smile: “You’re a gifted witch, Kozume Kenma” 

“Don’t you want to shower or anything? You’ve been wearing the same school uniform for like, three days now” Kenma asks trying to redirect the conversation. Kuroo nods enthusiastically

“Yes! I’m dying for a shower” He tells him while stretching once more “God, my body is sore. Let me tell you, being a cat for three days can and will ruin your back muscles” He tells him. Kenma nods, silently and gives him a towel. “Hey, while I’m on the shower, would you mind texting Akaashi? I’m taking all of you to breakfast.” Kenma looks at him tiredly

“But it’s so early…”

“Kenma! I’m human! I have my own two legs not covered by fur! I don’t have a tail! We need to commemorate!” Kenma sags his shoulders, giving Kuroo a look that lets very clear he would rather go back to bed, but the shapeshifter doesn’t seem like is going to let it go at all, so he just sighs. Kuroo must understand it as a defeat, cause he immediately gives Kenma another almost blinding grin. 

Oh.

Oh no.

Nope. Kenma does not think he is attractive. Not at all. He refuses to do so. 

Avoiding his stupid brain, Kenma merely rushes Kuroo and rolls his eyes, before going to find his phone and text Akaashi. They agree to meet up at a coffee shop in 45 minutes. Akaashi promises to take Bokuto since he has Kuroo's personal stuff. A few moments pass by and Kenma is near the door, playing on his PSP once again when he’s interrupted by a question.

“Did Akaashi answer?” Kuroo asks and Kenma turns his head to answer him and his brain freezes for a second as if it had been attacked by a spellcaster. Looking at him, standing at the door, freshly washed and with his hair still damp, the image of Kuroo's physical form hits him once again. Fuck. He is attractive. Unfairly so. Goddammit, Kuroo. 

“Yeah, we’re meeting at a cat café nearby” Kuroo stops and stares at him. “Too soon?” Kenma asks with fake innocence and the shapeshifter laughs obnoxiously loud again

“You’re a mean one, Kenma” he tells him, before approaching the door. “Ready to go get an amazing celebratory breakfast?”

“Doesn’t feel like I have a choice”  
“You sure don’t” Kuroo beams and Kenma rolls his eyes once again as they go out of the door. 

The way to the coffee shop is quick, and as they go Kuroo asks Kenma about his decision to become a potion maker, his favourite classes, favourite potions to make if he planned to be a practician at a hospital or have a shop. Kenma replies to all of them, surprisingly enjoying the conversation at such an early time, and asks Kuroo about why he chose to be a shapeshifter, and why a cat of all animals. 

“They are just neat animals. They’re smart, agile, great reflexes, and have an amazing set of vision and hearing. Also, they are cute as hell, you have to admit it” Kenma chuckles at that and Kuroo pokes his shoulder “Oi! Admit it, Kenma, I was cute as hell as a cat. You know you couldn’t resist it” to this Kenma scoffs, outraged

“I would rather die,” He says, opening the door to the coffee shop. And there, sitting at the closest table to the door is a very tired Akaashi. 

“Oya?” He says, turning to Kenma with bleary eyes. As he does, Bokuto appears beside him, with two cups of coffee on his hands

“Oya oya” He says, too loudly for Kenma's taste as usual.

“Oya oya oya” Kuroo replies, popping his head inside the store, his cat-like grin making an appearance once again.

“Bro!” Bokuto says raising his arms (‘Be careful with the coffee, Bokuto-San’ Akaashi warns softly) “You’re human again!”

“I sure am!” Kuroo says, taking the coffee out of Bokuto’s hands and setting on the table, before hugging him”

“I missed your ugly face!”

“I missed you too. You know your ugly face is my favourite one, bro” Kuroo answers, as they still hug each other.

“Do you guys need a moment? Should we leave?” Kenma asks with fake disgust on his voice, as he sits beside Akaashi.

“So mean Kenma, so mean. C’mon, I’ll fill you up with some nutritionally balanced breakfast and you’ll feel better in no time” Kuroo answers

“I want hot chocolate,” Kenma says and Kuroo rolls his eyes, “I thought you said this was a celebratory breakfast. This is how I celebrate.”

“Let me at least order you something healthy to eat”

“No”

“Please”

“No”

“Please. Mildly healthy. And tasty. I promise you’ll like it” Kuroo promises and gives him his best impression of a pleading cat. Kenma hates that it works.

“... Fine. Mildly healthy. And if I don’t like it I won’t eat it.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Kuroo says, smiling at him. “Now,” He says turning to their friends “Shall we celebrate the comeback of my wonderful human form?”

And so they do.

“I just don’t get why we have to use Aloe Vera as the base for this potion. It takes so much longer to boil and properly mix the other ingredients and is so slimy” Kenma complains to Akaashi as they leave the school grounds after class. Akaashi is about to answer him, with a reply that is either highly educated or equally annoyed, when they were interrupted by a very loud and very familiar voice

“AKAASHI!!” The boys turn around to find a very excited Bokuto running towards them, being followed (although in a much slower pace) by a very familiar rooster haired boy. 

Kenma swallowed dry. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous. It was just Kuroo. Kuroo who got stuck in cat form and slept on his bed, by his legs, and watched him play video games for 8 hours straight with no judgment, who insisted on taking him out for breakfast and called him a gifted witch, who was a nerd and had terrible bedhead. Just Kuroo. No need to be anxious. He took a breath and gave Kuroo a weak smile and waved to him as they approached. 

“I missed you Akaashi!” Bokuto yelled as he hugged the other witch.

“We saw each other yesterday, Bokuto-san.”

“Did you miss me?”

“...Yes, Bokuto-san.” 

“Of course you did!” Bokuto said loudly, the hugest smile on his face as he let the other boy free from the hug. Akaashi sighed and looked over to Kuroo and Kenma, who were still silently looking at each other, shy smiles tucked away. 

“Why don’t we go grab something to drink, Bokuto-san?” he asked, pulling the shapeshifter by his jacket sleeve. Bokuto grinned and started to loudly tell Akaashi about his day, as both boys disappeared down the street. Kenma blessed Akaashi on his mind.

“Hi” Kuroo says, a soft expression on his face

‘Hi” Kenma answers, mentally kicking himself for sounding as soft as he did.

“So, how’s the greatest potion maker of all times doing on this lovely day?” Kenma rolls his eyes and does his best to look annoyed. Kuroo's expression tells him that he either doesn’t believe or doesn’t care.

“I’m alive and breathing so... And how are you? What are you even doing here by the way?” Kenma asks confused

“What a rude question, Kenma, you sound like you want to banish me from this realm” The shapeshifter answers him, pretending to be offended.

“Kuroo, your academy is like, on the other side of town”

“Can’t I take a stroll around town and casually stop by the magic academy on the other side of town from my own?” Kuroo asks with fake innocence and Kenma just glares at him harder. Finally, Kuroo chuckles and raises his hands in surrender, before taking something out of his bag “I brought you this. Thought you might miss my adorable company, now that I’m back on my bullshit as a human being” Kuroo tells him cheekily while handing him a small plush cat. Kenma holds it on his hands. Is soft and cute. The only thing is missing is a rooster comb on top.

“Thanks, I hate it,” Kenma tells him, maintaining eye contact as he immediately stuffs the gift inside his backpack. Kuroo laughs that insufferable cackle that rings on Kenma's ears, but not in a bad way. 

“Yeah, I thought you’d say something like that.” He says. There’s a pause and Kuroo scratches the back of his head. “I was wondering if you would like to go out with me someday. I heard you like hot chocolate and pastries? Or I could take you out to dinner. Show you come of my nutritionally balanced cooking skills” He tells him teasingly.

“Nutritionally balanced meals are overrated” Kenma replies to which Kuroo fake gasps and puts a hand on his chest as if he’s offended “But... I could use an apple pie” he says, looking up shyly, from between the hair covering his face.

“I know where to find good apple pie” Kuroo tells him, pleased.” Does this friday sound good to you?” Kenma bites his lip. This is a chaotic, loud mouth shapeshifter who talks too much about magical properties, wakes up early on purpose, uses unironically the sentence ‘nutritionally balanced meals’ and has the worst case of bedhead Kenma has ever seen, as well as the most scandalous laugh he has ever heard. But he is also kind, and funny and genuinely interested in Kenma's interests and in getting to know him better. And, honestly, Kenma kinda wants to get to know him as well. He nods, slowly.

“Friday sounds good.”

“So we have a plan!”

“So we do.” Kuroo smiles ant him and Kenma smiles a little “Try to stay away from spell casters until then”

“I’ll do my best” He promises him with a cackle. “Ok, I have to go now, pry Bokuto away from Akaashi and remind him that we still have homework to do.”

“Ok”

“Ok” Kuroo keeps looking at him like he doesn’t want to leave. Kenma kinda doesn’t want him to leave either but instead, he says: 

“Just go, your teachers won’t accept cat excuses forever” 

“Ohoho, worried about my education, Kenma? How kind of you” Kenma rolls his eyes but Kuroo smiles and starts to walk away. “Friday!” He calls out and the witch simply nods.

He can’t wait for the week to end. 

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAH I can't believe I actually wrote and posted this lmao It's the first time I've actually commited enough to write something in years and I'm pretty proud of it.  
> With that in mind, I'm aware it's not perfect or the best work out there so, if you feel like it, all feedback is more than welcome
> 
> You can find me on @ffskuroo on twitter where I shitpost about Kuroo and yearning a lot


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